In just two years, the Silicon Valley Wine Auction has made a strong case that this region loves to give money to educational causes and that quality Northern California wine isn’t the exclusive domain of Napa Valley anymore.

More than 1,000 people attended the event at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara on Saturday — with 700-plus sipping up a storm at the daytime Grand Wine Tasting and 350 at a $550-a-seat, five-course, wine-paired dinner that evening — raising more than $700,000 for the Silicon Valley Education Foundation.

Members of the Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association donated more than $100,000 worth of wine to the event, including well-known labels such as Cooper-Garrod, Kathryn Kennedy, Burrell School, Testarossa, Mount Eden, Ridge and Thomas Fogarty. And many of the vintners themselves were at the dinner, providing a rare wine education for tablemates.

Dave House, whose House Family Vineyard was pouring wines at the event, told the dinner crowd that Lyman Burrell started producing wine in the Santa Cruz Mountains in 1854, predating John Patchett and Charles Krug’s efforts in Napa by four years. The Napa region, of course, dwarfs Santa Cruz in terms of production today, but the mountain area still boasts 76 wineries.

“What we need to remember is you’ve got some great quality wines in your backyard,” said House, the chairman of Brocade. “You don’t need to go to Napa Valley.”

SUNDAY SPECTACULAR: In a valley known for amazing innovations, you’ve got to hand it to the Pacific Coast Dream Machines Show, taking place at the Half Moon Bay Airport on Sunday. There’s really nothing else like it.

It’s an air show, a car show, a music festival and a maker fair all rolled up into one. Where else can you see a motocross stunt show, a parade of vintage police cars, Chris Cain playing the blues and a skydiving show all in the same day?

A WAY WITH WORDS: National Poetry Slam champion G Yamazawa — who brought the house down last June when he performed at a dinner at the Fairmont San Jose — returns to the South Bay on Thursday for an event at De Anza College in Cupertino.

At the performance organized by Contemporary Asian Theater Scene, Yamazawa will be joined by San Jose spoken-word artist Lorenz Mazon Dumuk and vocalist Maddie B. Admission to the 7:30 p.m. event is free. Go to www.catsasiantheater.com for more details.

COOKIES FOR CONSERVATION: Shoreline Lake will be have folks selling Burrowing Owl cookies during the Earth Day Fair at Moffett Field on Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. It’s a creative — and tasty — way to raise money to support Mountain View’s endangered bird, with funds being directed to the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society.

Sal Pizarro has written the Around Town column for The Mercury News since 2005. His column covers the people and events surrounding the cultural scene in Silicon Valley. In addition, he writes Cocktail Chronicles, a feature column on Silicon Valley bars and nightclubs.